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Blaine Stoughton
Blaine Stoughton (b. March 13th 1953 in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, Canada) is a retired professional right winger who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League and three in the World Hockey Association. Drafted 8th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft from the Flin Flon Bombers of the WHL (and 14th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1973 WHA Amateur Draft), Stoughton joined the Penguins in 1973-74, splitting the season between Pittsburgh and Hershey. The Pens traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the offseason with Pittsburgh's first round pick in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft (Trevor Johansen) for Rick Kehoe. There, he played his first full NHL season, scoring twenty three times and adding fourteen assists in 78 games. He splitted the following season between the Leafs and the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League; in 1976-77, Stoughton jumped ships and joined the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association. Blaine had an extremely up-and-down WHA stint. In his first season, paired with Rick Dudley and Rich Leduc to form the LSD Line, Stoughton scored 52 goals and as many assists in 81 games. However, the next year, under the restrictive defensive style of new head coach Jacques Demers, offensive-minded Stoughton fell into a dismal slump that led to his trade to the Indianapolis Racers with Gilles Marotte for Bryon Baltimore and Hugh Harris in January 1978. Stoughton failed to retrieve his scoring touch in Indianapolis; with the New England Whalers (to whom the Racers had dealt him for cash with Dave Inkpen when the team folded), he began to show signs of an awakening, as a third-liner playing with Mike Rogers. Things changed drastically when Stoughton returned to the NHL. In his first season with the Hartford Whalers, he and his linemate Rogers became the core of Hartford's attack and both enjoyed solid numbers - Stoughton had his first 50-goals NHL season in 1979-80 (56), as well as his only 100-points season. He had 43 goals the next season, 52 the second next and 45 in 1982-83. Stoughton was invited to take part in the 1982 NHL All-Star Game. Stoughton was dealt to the New York Rangers the following season. His numbers were no longer what they used to be, and he found himself playing in the American Hockey League with the New Haven Nighthawks in 1984-85. He choose to take the next year off before playing his last hockey season in Italy in 1987-88 with AS Asiago Hockey. Stoughton now resides in Gilbert Plains and is currently the head coach of the University of Cincinnati hockey team. He also was assistant coach with the Cincinnati Cyclones and the Springfield Indians in the mid 1990s; he was head coach of the Austin Ice Bats for one season, 1996-97, leading them to a 35 wins 22 losses and 7 overtime losses in 65 games record. He comes from a hockey family, his father Mel and older brother Gerald having also played hockey, although not with the same prominence as Blaine Stoughton did. Career Statistics Awards & Achievements *Turnbull Cup (MJHL) Championship (1969) *“Honoured Member” of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame Category:Born in 1953 Category:Canadian ice hockey players Category:Dauphin Kings players Category:Flin Flon Bombers (WHL) players Category: Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks Category:Hershey Bears players Category:Pittsburgh Penguins players Category:Toronto Maple Leafs players Category:Oklahoma City Blazers (1965-1977) players Category:Cincinnati Stingers players Category:Indianapolis Racers players Category:New England Whalers players Category:Hartford Whalers players Category:New York Rangers players Category:New Haven Nighthawks players Category:AS Asiago Hockey player